POPULATION GROWTH MUST BE CURBED

THE HARTFORD COURANT

In a battle of beliefs that could cripple next month's world population conference in Cairo, the United States and the Vatican are at odds over family planning and abortion. Pope John Paul II's ideas on these issues should not carry the day.

That's not to say that abortion should ever be imposed as it is in China, where the government uses the operation and sterilization to enforce population control. Nor should it be promoted as a means of birth control.

The Clinton administration, in fact, expects the number of abortions to decrease in the United States and around the world as family planning counseling, including the promotion of sexual abstinence and contraception, increases.

The need for birth control is obvious. World population is approaching 6 billion. According to the latest projections, it is likely to reach 9 billion in 2025 -- half a billion more people than previously estimated. Developing countries, particularly in Africa, are growing faster than expected because their populations are living longer. The Cairo conference's goal is to stabilize the world population at 7.2 billion by 2050.

Washington and its allies, in preparing for the U.N. conference, are right to insist that the choice of abortion be included in a broad package of health services and other benefits for women worldwide. Beyond that, many wo- men's groups are using the Cairo meeting to pro- mote the education and emancipation of all women.

The pope and his supporters on family planning and abortion are going all out to promote traditional Roman Catholic teachings: No artificial means of birth control and abortion should be permissible. Economic reform, the Vatican believes, will accommodate population expansion.

But even a panel of experts convened by the Vatican is advocating population controls. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, in light of what it called the "unavoidable need to contain births globally," said in June that the birthrate should be limited to about two children per couple. Church officials immediately distanced themselves from the report.

Washington and the Vatican agree on nine- tenths of the draft Cairo document. It would be tragic if the conference fails because of disagreement on the remaining one-tenth. The delegates in Cairo, while respecting religious beliefs, must promote reproductive freedom for women. The world's future depends on it.